


Painful Changes

by princeanxious



Category: Sanders Sides (Web Series)
Genre: Anxiety | Virgil Sanders-centric, Gen, Mentions of Blood, Winged!Logan, Winged!Patton, Winged!Roman, Winged!Virgil, creature!dark sides, mild body horror, winged!light sides
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-30
Updated: 2020-09-30
Packaged: 2021-03-08 00:28:35
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,608
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26726701
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/princeanxious/pseuds/princeanxious
Summary: The unofficial title for this fic was “Growing Wings Fucking Sucks”All Virgil's life, he'd had the signature creature features of a dark side. Spider legs, additional spider eyes, venomous fangs, the works!Now that he's been accepted, it seems his body is taking to the shift in sides far more than they ever expected it would.
Comments: 4
Kudos: 150





	Painful Changes

**Author's Note:**

> A lil hurt/comfort oneshot I wrote ages ago inspired by some doodles I'd drew. Enjoy!

Being accepted and becoming a 'light side' was a.. Process, to say in the least. The fact was that 'dark' sides had creature-like features, and 'Light' sides had angel wings and near-flawless skin. Something said Roman's and Patton's influences over the years were the cause for such a specific set of features, but it was as normal in the mind palace at this point as finding Virgil on places that he shouldn't be sitting on. Virgil didn't question them, and they soon stopped questioning Virgil.

Virgil's features had seemed to fit himself quite well, an extra few sets of spider eyes and legs, and fangs that matched his personality. They were conjurable of course, so that he didn't freak Patton out every time the father figment saw him, a wave of the hand and Virgil looked almost normal. Aside from the purple eyes.

Still, Accepting Anxiety had come and went, and the process had begun to show some results that, well. Perhaps they weren’t so surprising, but to Virgil? Such changes were certainly _not_ welcome.

Such as waking up one morning to find nearly all of his creature attributes unconjurable, unshifting, _gone_. No more extra eyes or limbs, duller fangs and no venom within. Just purple eyes and his eyeshadow, and nothing else.

Well, in all his sulking from the loss, he hadn't quite made the jump on _why_ exactly it happened. Not, at least, until the aches started.

It took two full months before the aches began to set in. Dull and more of a nuisance than an actual problem, he tried to ignore it in favor of keeping his attention on protecting the others and Thomas. Virgil knew just as well that he had horrid posture, and figured that his shift and loss of extra limbs and extra sulking had just irritated the area. So, Virgil didn't bring it up.

It wasn't until the overall aches began to shrink and center into certain lines on his shoulders down to his mid to lower back, that he began to be suspicious. Still, he tried to ignore it in favor of doing what he did best, being anxious about everything but himself.

Then the aches started getting to be tedious, daily occurrences. In the morning he'd wake up to the worst of it, and try to stretch it out to go back to sleep because the aches had woken him up. By mid day they'd have dulled into something more manageable, but touching his back began to be a bit of a no-go. He still suffered through Patton's hugs, he couldn't refuse his dad that even if doing so meant sharp pain spiking up his back, because Patton meant well and showed his love through bear hugs. Some pesky pain wasn't going to get in the way of that. Still, his face sometimes betrayed him in expressing the spasm of pain he felt each time, and both Logan and Roman sometimes saw. Roman often gave him a worried look, and Logan gave a questioning one, both of which he dismissed.

Sleeping was already rough from the get-go, but now more-so than ever did it fucking _suck_. It became uncomfortable to even lay on his back, and sometimes even his side. The first time he flopped down the wrong way on his bed out of instinct, he shot right back up from the spasm of pain that it elicited. So, sleeping and laying on his stomach began to be the way to go. He'd stay out of the groups movie night cuddle sessions like he used to, _not_ because he _wanted_ to, but because it really began to hurt to just let _anything_ even just _brush_ his back.

Stretching hurt, breathing hurt, moving hurt, sleeping hurt, even simply _being_ hurt! Virgil was sick and tired of it at this point. It was freaking him the hell out, it'd been a month since the aches had transformed into pain, and the others were well past suspicious. Logan had often taken him aside to gently prod about his sudden change in behavior. Worried that his friend was hurting. Virgil _was_ hurting, but it wasn't like he could very well _tell_ Logan that. He assured Logan that the loss of his creature attributes had just been a literal sore spot for a while, and he was having to distance a bit to let it heal without it being aggravated. Logan still seemed suspicious, but accepted the explanation none-the-less and gave Virgil a comforting brush of his wing. Roman was less upfront about his suspicion, though it was still obvious. However, he was careful and respected Virgil's space, being careful to avoid the sore areas when he touched the other. Patton caught on pretty quickly, opting to give Virgil wing hugs instead of arm hugs as they were gentle and soft. He even helped Virgil try to find ways to dial back the soreness, one of the best things having involved heat.

The healing pad Roman conjured had been a blessing to his poor back. Hot showers and baths also soothed the pain, and it was finally looking up for Virgil.

And then, it wasn't.

When it happened, he'd been doing what had helped his pain best, taking a hot bath after a shower. His back carefully submerged underneath him to relax his muscles. Today the pain had seemingly been at its worst, eliciting spasms of pain at every too sudden movement. His skin hurt, his shoulders twitched, his spine ached. So he opted for a shower, and then a long soak in a hot bath. Everything had been fine, the pain had died down and he'd been as relaxed as one could be in such a state. He was almost dozing off from relief when it happened. Something _shifted_ in his back that was not of his own accord.

Then? The worst spasms of pain of his life, so sudden and so numbing that Virgil could barely make a sound, let alone sit up. Wave after wave hit him like a freight train, and his shoulders and back tensed and spasmed and jolted, pain seemingly tearing down his shoulders and ending at his lower back. Minutes pass as finally, finally, the spasming stops, and Virgil gasps deeply for air. He thanks his lucky stars that his head stayed above water, and that whatever it was, it was finally over.

And then he sees it. Wisps of red floating up from the water, from underneath him, and his heart leaps into his throat.

He can barely manage to breath as he raises his shaking hand and summons whoever will listen to his emergency call.

Logan sinks up first, book in hand, feathers ruffled and looking slightly annoyed before he really sees Virgil. Wide-eye panicked paper pale Virgil, unmoving aside from the rapid rise and fall of his chest. Then he sees the red in the water, and kicks into action, immediately moving to very gently pull Virgil up and out of the water while tucking his large wings back and out of the way. Virgil pushes on despite the pain and stinging it elicits.

When all is said and done, and Virgil is dry and at least wearing pajama pants, Logan can finally assess the damage.

Two long slits carve their way down Virgil's back, starting high on his shoulders and curing to almost meet at his lower back on either side of his spine.

All at once, Logan understands.

_Wings_. Virgil is growing _wings_.

Just under the slits, he can see the new muscles moving, and cringes at Virgil's soft cry. Knowing what must be done, he quietly summons Patton and Roman. Their discontent of the rough summoning dies on the spot when they find Virgil nearly sobbing with pain as Logan looks on pityingly.

The two are quickly briefed on the situation, and take positions holding Virgil's hands.

"His wings are half formed, and have been stuck underneath the skin, and that is why the skin finally burst from the pressure. If we are not quick, more damage will come as they try to fight their way out. So I will have to carefully manually guide them out instead." Both winged sides cringed at that.

The process was agony, but necessary. And true to his word, the logical side was as careful as he could be, but Virgil still gripped Pat and Ro's hands tight till Logan was done freeing both small featherless wings. Carefully, both wings and Virgil's back were cleaned and disinfected.

To help console the anxious side, Roman conjured a loose open backed shirt with long thick sleeves.

It would still be a while before the skin fully healed and the sleek grey itchy downy feathers would begin to grow in, once Virgil's wings finished fully growing, but for now Virgil simply slumped grumpily into Patton's arms as the sides relocated him to the mind palace living room.

Somehow he ended up with his head on Patton's chest as they laid down on the couch, Logan and Roman sitting on the floor against the couch to keep close company as they turned a quiet movie on.

All in all, a better outcome than he was expecting for the end of the day. And Virgil wasn't going to complain about that. Well.. Maybe a little, if it meant he could get a few chuckles out of the others.

"That fuckin _sucked_." He mumbled grumpily, and even Patton snickered lovingly with the others despite quietly calling out Virgil's language.

Sure, his back still hurt, and would for a while, but he could feel it now, this new pain was temporary.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading! :D


End file.
